1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of end plug adapters for musical instruments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is traditional in the musical world to incorporate a strap button within the end block of guitars and the like to serve as a mounting post for a shoulder strap. In the case of violins and similar instruments, an end button is utilized to provide a means for anchoring the strings which are fixed at the tuning head and tensioned over the instrument bridge. The term "end plug" as employed herein as hereby defined to include both the strap buttons of guitars or other instruments utilizing a strap, and the end buttons of violin-type instruments. In the prior art, the end plugs of guitars and the like and of violintype instruments have generally been wood or plastic members force-fit into holes drilled in the instrument end block. These wood or plastic members are often under considerable stress and are subject to breakage.
With the advent of small economical transducers such as those manufactured and sold by Barcus-Berry, Inc., Long Beach, California, the problem of coupling these pickups from the musical instrument to amplifying equipment has become important. Prior art methods of coupling comprise drilling a large hole through the rib portion of these instruments and having electrical conductors, which may include an electrical connector mounted in the rib, extend from the transducer pickups through the hole for connection to amplifying equipment. Although such an arrangement may be suitable for inexpensive guitars, one is usually not willing to drill a 1/4 inch diameter hole through the rib of an expensive instrument such as a Stradivarius. Thus, in expensive instruments where the intrinsic value of the instrument would be greatly reduced with the drilling of any holes in the rib section, internal electrical wiring for transducer pickups would be virtually precluded.
In mounting an electrical connector in the rib of a musical instrument there is also the danger of seriously damaging the instrument if the external lead wire is suddenly brought under tension as by tripping over or catching the usually long cord to the amplifying equipment. If the connector is rigidly mounted in the rib member, a sudden pull on the external cord could well rip out a large section of the rib rendering the instrument useless.